projects.
about.
Emma Davis is a multidisciplinary artist currently working within methods of expanded installation, including mediums of sound, animation, and projection. Informed by her interests in contemporary ecological concerns, Davis’ artistic framework investigates the trepidation of the Anthropocene, inquiring how the transition into this geological epoch has further catalysed a lack of recognition towards non-human ‘others.’
In affiliation with discussions evoked through the work of Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Davis’ practice focusses on the decentralisation of the human image; problematising humanity’s ontological entitlement through reflections on traditional folktale and accompanying theoretical concepts such as Posthumanism, Transcorpreality and Affect - allowing Davis to extend and heighten discussions around the Sixth Extinction. This enables new perspectives of humankind’s relationship to the natural world to unfold where the human image is recontextualised away from an autopoietic, autonomous self. Davis has been investigating the central role of technology within the context of de-extinction, questioning the human desire to ‘better’ and, most critically, the impact it has towards environmental degradation.
In her current artistic frameworks, Davis invites her audience into an artificial environment – an impoverished version of nature which problematises concepts of necrofauna stemming from humankind’s techno-utopian visions. Within this context, an animated depiction of the Kaua’i o’o, a Hawaiian songbird declared extinct in 1987, interacts with the physical space. His lamented calls evoke a feeling of displacement and isolation within this piece, commentating further on humanity’s own failings as a species – is this a demonstration a successful repurposing of technology to promote activism? Or is this subject's existence purely for the benefit of humanity?
